Terminal for electric fittings.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK A. SWAN, OF CLIFTNDALE, MASSACHUSETTS.

TERMINAL FOR ELECTRIC FITTINGS.

' Specification of Letters Patent. Application led April 26, 1907. v.Serial No; 370,352.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Beit known'that I, FREDERICK A. SWAN, a citizen ofthe United States, residing' in Cliftondale, in the county of Essexand State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improve- 'I ment Terminals for Electric Fittings, of which 'the following description, in connection with the accompanying specljicati'on, like letters on the drawing representlng hke parts.

drawing, is a In most electrical fittings, .such for in- I stance'as'rosettes,lampsockets, outlet boxes,

etc., the conducting wires `are connected to terminalslor terminal plates by being `passed `under the heads of binding screws or nuts.

While this manner of connecting the wires to .the terminals answers lso far as making a good electrical connection is concerned, yet if'the 'conducting wires are so located that they are subjected to any strain,- they are apt to be pulled from under or away from the binding screws ornuts, thus breaking the electrical connection. r n

It is the object of my resent invention to 'p rovide a novelform o 'terminal for electrical fittings tovwhich the conducting wire maybe connected in such way that it will be ossible'y for thev wire to be pulled from un.

1m deillthe binding screw or nut by any strain on the wire. i

. Myl improved terminal is especially-ada ted foruse in rosettes and lamp sockets, andp 1n order to illustrate my invention I have shown -it as'embo'died in electrical fittings of this character. i I wish it understood., however,-

. .tliatfthe terminal is ada tedfor use generally infelectric'al fittings oi a l kinds.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows a rosette and lampl socket, each having my invention 4o yapplied thereto, the rosette being shown in s ection'and *the lamp-socket being broken v"outto show the invention; Fig. 2 is an under side view of the base of the rosette.

' 3 is the base of any ordinary rosette,'and 4 is .the cap thereof.. This rosette has the usual terminal plates 5 to which the conducting'wires 6 are'connectedand in the embodi- .ment ofthe invention herein shown said wires lead. to the. terminals 7 ofthe lam socket 8 which 'terminals are of some suitab e conducting .material -The terminals herein shown have the usual binding screws 9 under which the ends ofthe conducting wires 6 are clamped, as usual. In order to relieve the binding screws and the ortion of the con# ducting wire 6 'clamped t ereunder from any doing portion of the terminal 'a ducting wire is wound or wrapped should be strain to -which the said conducting wires Patented Sept. 1, 1908.

may be subjected, Iiorm each .of the terrninals` with a head 10 around which the conducting Wire 6 may be wra ped, as plainly seen 1n the drawings. way of making theseterminals is to providel Iiin one convenient each terminal with the neck 11 connecting the body thereof-Withv the head 10 and preferably the head -1() is formed on each side with the recesses`12 and on its end with al1.-

other'recess 13. i

In connecting a conductingl vwire to my improved terminal the end of the wire is first clamped under the bindin0r screw 9 and then (I around the head,

said wire maybe'wrappe as shown in the drawings', sai/d wire being received in the recesses 12 and 13. With 'the wire thus attached to the terminal, any strain on the wire .come directly on the head 10, but will not be transmitted to the portion 'of the wire which is clamped under the binding screw 9, and therefore said head will relieve the bindin screw from any strain to which the con ucting Wire is, subjected. In this way all danger of' the-.circuit beingbroken by the wire becoming pulled terminal of this construction can be used 4not with a rosette, I W base of the rosette wit the centralv recess 14 in which the heads'l() are received, said re.- cess -aiiording plenty 'of s ace to wrap the wire around the head. W ere the terminal.

is used Iin a lamp-socket, the yhead thereof may bereceived in the recess 15 formed in the porcelain body 16.

In' practice I prefer to strip the insulation from the -portion of' the conducting wire which is wrapped about the head 10, forby the wire and theterminal is increased'by the so the electrical connection'betweenv wrapping of the wire around the head. The

form of terminalherein shown, therefore, not

only serves to relieve the .binding screw from any strainto which the wire ma necti'on tobemade.

It is not essential to moinvention' that the utwhich the conof the shape shown herein, for believeI am the irst to provide'a terminal for an elec- .be subject-- ed, but also permitsa better e ectrical con-- lio trical;fitting',vvitha" device to relieve i the'l I binding sorewfrom ,any strain to which the conducting' wire may be subjected, and I y wish to 'claim this feature broadly.,` I have lfound',however,'that the form ofl terminal herein vshown gives good results and isi-on venient to use.

Having `described my invention, whatA I claim asnew, and'desire to secure by Letters Patentis-- Y 1. In anvelectrieal fitting, the combination With aterminal of Conducting material, 'of

means to detahably connect a conducting wire thereto, said termin-al having integral therewith means :to relieve said connecting means from any strain Ato which the Wire may 4be subjected.

*A ducting -wiremay be Wrappedithereby to pro vide su Hioient frictional engagement between the Wire vand saidfportion to viflthstaird. the strain to which the wire maybe subieetei'l,

3.. The' combination with a fixed electrical tti'ngr having a terminal, of' a conducting Wire connected thereto and suspended there from, a second fitting also havinga terminal and means to connect the conducting' wire to said terminal, whereby said second 'fitting is suspended from theliixed fitting, each ter-- nnnal of each'htting. having' as an integral y part, thereofmeans Ato relieve the` ooiineetiimi betweenl it and said wire from any strain..

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this s'peeiiiifatiomin the presence oi twosubserihing witnesses.

- FREDERICK A, SWAN lVitnesSes:

Lonis C. SMITH, EVANGELINE BROWN. 

